Madagascar, located in the Indian Ocean, can rightfully be considered one of the largest islands in the world because it ranks 4th after Greenland, New Guinea, and Kalimantan. There are several types of OPF available to foreign investors who intend to open a company in Madagascar.
Madagascar provides several incentives for investors. They derive mainly from the Investment Law. However, they are complemented by additional legislation, including the Free Zones Act and the Major Mining Investment Act.
Conditions to open a company in Madagascar
The leading sectors of the economy are agriculture, export, and fishing. If you want to register a company in Madagascar, you need to choose one of the proposed forms of doing business:
- Limited Liability Company – LLC.
- Public partnership with limited liability – РLC.
- Branch of the company – branch.
- Representative office of a foreign company – representative company.
To register a company in Madagascar, you will need to fulfill several requirements of the Regulator:
- Minimum start-up capital of a PLC: about 700 €.
- Minimum start-up capital of LLC: about 1 €.
- Obtain a taxpayer identification number.
- Obtain a business license.
- Prepare a set of standard documents with information about the beneficiary.
- Register a legal address.
- Register a unique company name.
- Pay a registration fee of about 6 €.
The authorized capital of the PLC must be at least $ 800. The very process of registering an enterprise in Madagascar does not take much time.
An LLC company in Madagascar must pay a share capital of $ 1.
Entrepreneurs who plan to register a business in Madagascar will need to submit documents to the state register, and then register the company with the tax service.
An important point is that a businessman also needs to obtain a new taxpayer identification number to register a business in Madagascar.
The next step will be to apply for a license (Carte Professionnelle), as well as obtain a statistical number.
The registration of a commercial business in Madagascar also requires the managers of the company to submit all documentation about each of their employees to the National Social Security Fund (Caisse Nationale de Prevoyance Sociale). The founders of the company must be over 30 years old.
After all the steps over several days, the entrepreneur receives documents called K-Bis. This package of documents includes a certificate of confirmation of the effectiveness of a commercial enterprise, a statistical card, company registration number, license, confirmation of registration with the tax service.
All documentation for a successful business on the island of Madagascar must be notarized. Required documents for registering an enterprise in Madagascar – passports or birth certificates of the founders.
Reporting
- Maintenance and submission of financial statements are mandatory.
- The audit is mandatory.
Labor and taxation
Most union members hold office or industry positions. Popular and widespread trade unions include the Federation of Syndicates and Civilians of Madagascar, the Malaysian Christian Trade Union Confederation of Sendica, and the Union of Autonomous Syndicates of Madagascar.
Tax revenue is derived primarily from trade taxes, taxes on domestic goods and services, and taxes applied to corporate income and profits; property tax income is the least significant. Tax collection and revenues are usually quite centralized, and tax evasion settles a major problem in Madagascar. At the beginning of the 21st century, the share of Madagascar’s income from tax revenues was quite low, and raising revenue remained an important goal to reduce Madagascar’s dependence on aid.
The corporate tax is 20%.
Non-resident companies pay VAT at 23%.
The approximate fee for registering a business in Madagascar will be 15,500 Malagasy Ariary (6 €). 20,000 MGA is charged by the National Institute of Statistics of Madagascar, which is an amount of 8 €. Another 8 € will be needed to fill out all applications for obtaining a package of documents for the company (K-Bis). The registration fee costs approximately 0.5% of the start-up capital of a commercial institution.
